Fueling the fire
by Greaser4life
Summary: With an unidentifiable body of a U.S. Army Ranger, and Booth missing, Brennan finds herself in a race against the clock for her partner and her sanity. Set at the end of S5
1. Chapter 1

"_**Tis the only comfort of the miserable to have partners in their woes."**_

_**Miguel De Cervantes**_

* * *

Two months.

She had been here for two months and hadn't found the first shred of evidence that was linked to the signs of early man. Daisy had been as perky as ever throughout the 60 some odd days they have been in Maluku, but even Brennan her-self could see doubt slowly making its way into her eyes.

"Dr. Brennan, maybe if we separate…" Daisy began again knowing that her efforts would be short lived. She was shot down by the famous anthropologist every time she suggested the concept of working separate from each other, to cover more ground, and each time it ended the same way.

"We are on a foreign island, Miss. Wick, it would be ignorant of us to go off into unknown territory especially in such a hostile environment. " Daisy Wick knew what Maluku could be like; she did her research thoroughly before jumping on a plane traveling a thousand some odd miles with her ex-boss. But some part of her wondered what all the fuss was about. They had been here for two months and have yet to come in contact with anyone or anything besides a few monkeys and a couple spiders.

"Perhaps we should call it a night," Brennan stated, casting a gaze to judge the suns location, "if my calculations are correct we have four hours till night fall and it's a good three hour hike back."

"Good idea." Daisy said flatly, she was hot, tired and frankly starving.

The brush was thick as they walked back in silence, neither having the energy to make much conversation. Brennan was glad; she had never been one too converse with someone like Daisy Wick. If she were being honest with herself, she really didn't understand the reasoning why she asked her to come alone anyway.

Brennan followed behind Daisy, fairly comfortable with letting her lead. She couldn't help but let her mind wonder to Booth, and what he was doing right now. The time difference was significant, so if she were being rational, she knew he was more than likely sleeping. Booth had assured her that he wasn't in Afghanistan for a combat mission, strictly training, but Brennan didn't know if she believed him one hundred percent. Booth was exceptionally good at leaving out little details if he thought it would protect her somehow. She cleared her throat, blaming the tightness that suddenly formed there her thirst and not the sudden memory of her partner.

She was brought back to reality when she slammed into the back of Daisy.

Catching herself before she fell, she asked what the problem was. Daisy didn't' say anything only pointed.

"Oh." Brennan said, taking in the enormous silk web and its creator, an Orb spider.

"That is the biggest, most disgusting spider I've ever seen." She said, stepping back, trying to put distance between her and the ugly golden brown arachnid.

"I concur, it is quite large for the family it belongs too," Brennan looked around for a stick, spying one she scooped it up, "I'm sure Dr. Hodgins would love to figure out why, do you have a container of some sort?" Daisy looked at Brennan as if she had grown another head.

"You've got to be kidding me, Dr. Brennan, I'm sorry but I'm not carrying that thing with us the rest of the trip."

Brennan was about to retort with a 'science is science no matter what' speech when she heard the distinct ring of her tractor phone.

They both froze for a moment, the sound almost foreign to them.

"Brennan." She said, tossing the bag down on the ground, stretching her back.

The connection was cracking and the voice distant and unfamiliar and Brennan couldn't help but pull the phone back a little.

"Dr. Brennan, this is Major William Darby," the man stopped and Brennan waited for him to continue, when he didn't she broke the silence first.

"Am I suppose too know who you are, because your name is not dinging any bells in a metaphoric sense of course?"

"Ringing any bells Dr. Brennan." Daisy added, and Brennan nodded her thanks. As the man on the other end cleared his throat.

"Huh, no Dr. Brennan, we have never met, I'm with the U.S. Army Rangers, and we are calling because we need your assistance." Brennan felt her body stiffen as he spoke, her mind automatically thinking of Booth.

"Is Booth okay, what's this about?" Brennan didn't care that her voice seemed to crack a little when she asked the question, and she noticed Daisy, who was intently watching the spider before, was now focused on Brennan herself.

"Please understand I'm not at liberty to add any information than what I have been released too doctor," Brennan cut him off.

"I can assure you I have a very high clearance level Mr. Darby, as you should know since I'm fairly comfortable making the assumption that the army has given you my file already."

The man didn't skip a beat, "There has been an attack, in Central Afghanistan Dr. Brennan."

Neither did Temperance, "Sergeant Major, Seeley Booth, he is an adviser to the Afghan National Army; Afghan forces are being trained by coalition forces to take an increased role in fighting the Taliban insurgency…"

"Dr. Brennan, I am to inform you that you have been called to serve your country under the strict orders of the President, a plane will be at your camp site in less than four hours."

Brennan was about to retort when the line went dead.

"Excuse my French Dr. Brennan, but what the hell was that about?" Brennan looked at Daisy, having completely forgotten she was there.

"I, I don't know."

* * *

_Well this is my first Bones fanfic, I hope you enjoyed it. I am looking for a BETA, so if you're interested let me know. Anyways, I know this is a few seasons ago, but I liked the idea. Read and review boneheads. Thanks in advance! Flames more than welcome. _


	2. Chapter 2

_Human beings like variety, and they also like partnership... these are scientific values we can point to._

_Susie Bright_

If there was one thing Brennan hated more than large planes, it was smaller ones.

And being surrounded by three large men in a small, stuffy aircraft didn't help matters much.

She had been on the plane for six hours total and she was feeling the effects. No one spoke, and the only noise was the quiet humming of the air slipping by. She suddenly missed Daisy and her incisive talking, she felt saddened because Daisy had been left behind, the men that were waiting for them when they returned to camp said that this was a classified mission and they had strict orders to deliver Brennan alone. Daisy had insisted that she could find her way back home safety and not to worry.

But Brennan did worry.

She worried an awful a lot.

About Daisy, about that stupid spider she wasn't able to contain for Hodgins. She worried about the briefing that was to take place as soon as she made landfall at the Army base. She worried that if she refused to assist in whatever she was being forced to assist in she would lose her job. But most of all she worried that Booth was dead. She worried that she would never get to see her partner again, all because she wanted to go look for something that she couldn't even find.

She had demanded to know where it was she was going, Central Afghanistan was simply too vague for her taste. But they wouldn't tell her, she demanded to know if Booth was okay; these men where Army Rangers, she could tell by their uniforms, so they had to know something.

"Is Sargent Major Seeley Booth involved?" She tried her best to keep her voice level, "He is above you, and we are partners with the FBI so I have every right to know whether or not he is okay!"

The man in the green uniform only sighed and tried to continue to usher her into the plane.

The same plane that had just hit turbulence, snapping her back to reality.

She took a deep breath and carefully twisted the cap off her water bottle and with shaking hands she took a sip. She blamed her jumpiness on the how unsteady the plane was but she was smart enough to know that, that wasn't entirely true.

"Are you an Army Ranger too?" She asked a man to her right when she wasn't able to take the silence any longer. The man nodded his head but offered no more information.

Brennan decided that even though they weren't going to speak, that didn't mean she couldn't, "I'm going to make an educated assumption that I'm needed to identify remains of one or more persons'," she stated blankly," and if that is the case, I will need certain equipment and access to my colleges at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington, D.C."

"You will be briefed as soon as we have landed Miss. Brennan." The same man said, and Brennan felt her eye twitch.

"Doctor, I am Dr. Temperance Brennan. I have a Ph.D and three doctorates in anthropology, forensic anthropology and kinesiology, so please address me accordingly."

"My apologies Dr. Brennan,"

She sighed and leaned back into her seat, resting her head on the head-rest. She was exhausted, mentally and physically. Booth would tell her to rest up before her 'big game' because he always had a bad habit of comparing real life events with sports innuendos. She would get through this, Booth would be fine, and they could all go back to the way it was before the summer began. They could all just go back.

They could, couldn't they?

XXX

As soon as she landed, they had ushered off to this room where a young man reluctantly handed her a multiply page booklet with all known victims

A helicopter pilot and four men were out in what the U.S. military called the Crayon box because simply,  
'that field got everything.'

"The air attack came out of nowhere. They weaseled their way into our air zone in less than 2 minutes; we didn't have to time to pray." Michael Darby whispered to himself but Brennan caught it. Brennan wasn't sure if she should raise her hand or not, so she did.

"My only concern is my partner Special Age…" She was interrupted.

Booth had a group of afghan soldiers out in the box, running an average, run of the mill, everyday skill strengthen run.

"It was only supposed to be a quick, 45 minute task force training." The gruff man leading the briefing said, Brennan felt herself slipping in and out of reality. She was fighting with everything in her to not run from the room.

She suddenly remembered the booklet she had in her hands and she looked down at it. There were faces in small square boxes. She frantically flipped through the pages and then she froze.

She felt her breath catch and her heart stop, when she found Booths.

XXX

Her early evening turned to night, and her heart sank a little more, metaphorically of course.

There were 20 bodies lined up against each other in rows of four.

Brennan held her breath and she felt her hands shake. She made her way over to the instrument table next to the window and placed both hands on it. Brennan wasn't one to scare easily. But she was afraid now. As she looked out the window she saw nothing, a big panoramic view of black night. The nothingness made her emotions of when her parents disappeared very raw.

And she felt how alone she was all the way to her bones.

10 bodies have been identified, 10 bodies had not, and that's where she came in. She had allowed her gloves to slide on with a snap. And she got to work.

Mindlessly opening the bags that held bits and pieces of men that once were members of the world's leading defense unit.

Her partners unit.

"Dr. Brennan," she heard Michael Darby say from behind her, and Brennan didn't respond, "I see you found your way to the autopsy room a bit early, I do believe telling you that you can start fresh in the morning."

She felt the calm demeanor that she worked so hard to put in place start to weaver. He expected her to rest, after that _briefing_?

"With all due respect, no one can think clearly after such an exhausting journey as one like yourself as just had, and you know as well as I do that we are in no position for mistakes."

Brennan spun around to face him,

"I do not make mistakes." There was a sigh and Brenna fought to keep her eyes from rolling in annoyance.

"Dr. Brennan,"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I do not need you to tell me how to complete my job Mr. Darby. I'm very well aware of how many hours it's been since I've slept and I do know how many miles I've traveled. But I will say that I know my body well enough to know when it's time to call it quits. I am the best anthropologist in the world, and I am not in any way shape or form affiliated with the U.S. Military so I do not take orders from you. I am here to identify these remains, as well as the remains of my partner and I'm going to go the hell home."

_I hope you enjoyed! Read and review._


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